freelancer

noun

free·​lanc·​er ˈfrē-ˌlan(t)-sər 

plural freelancers

1

: a person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any one employer : freelance sense 1

hired a freelancer to write the article

… there were hundreds of photographers on the scene, some on assignment, some freelancers, most of them amateurs.

—Garrison Keillor

But while Renzo is the ultimate company man, a lifetime employee who reports to the same office every morning, Riccardo is the prototypical freelancer, a peripatetic problem-solver with five-dozen clients.

—Bruce Schoenfeld

2

: a person who acts independently without being affiliated with or authorized by an organization : freelance sense 2b

[Anthony] Grafton contrasts public intellectuals outside and inside the universities, and he takes note of today's nostalgia for the freethinkers who lived and wrote independently of deans and classrooms. But it is good to be reminded that in that golden era of freelancers such as Wilson, H. L. Mencken, and Mary McCarthy, voices like theirs were also raised in universities.

—G. W. Bowersock

Examples of freelancer in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Going out on your own as a freelancer is an exciting move. —Chelsea Tobin, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026

Producers added that some of the freelancers pursuing legal claims have agreed to work on the film should production resume. —Jake Kanter, Deadline, 22 June 2026

Associated Press reporter Kimberlee Kruesi and freelancers Ken Powtak and Caterina McGuigan contributed. —Kyle Hightower, Chicago Tribune, 20 June 2026

And a great bench of freelancers is making this all-American game feel dramatic, approachable, and exciting—even to filthy casuals. —Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 18 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1924, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for freelancer

• enhancer
• merganser
• romancer
• ansar
• anser
• answer
• cancer
• dancer
• lancer
• anticancer
• necromancer